This Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese will make Italian Mamas proud. It’s rich, luscious, the sauce is silky and the meat is so tender it melts in your mouth. And the slow cooker does all the hard work!!
Long and slow is how real Italian Mamas make proper Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s when the magic happens, the sauce thickens and infuses with incredible flavour that you simply can’t achieve in 30 minutes on the stove. The meat becomes so tender and soft, it literally melts in your mouth. The sauce is silky and rich, and clings lovingly to the pasta, staining the long strands a deep red.
So basically, slow cookers were made for Bolognese sauce. Or maybe Spaghetti Bolognese was made for slow cookers. Doesn’t really matter. They’re a match made in heaven! :-)
Now I have to tell you, this is a real proper authentic Bolognese recipe. So it’s not a “chuck it all in the slow cooker” recipe. Softening the onion and browning the beef before transferring it to the slow cooker is a key step, it can’t be skipped!
It just so happens that my slow cooker has a sauté setting – very handy for browning before slow cooking. However, when I make Bolognese Sauce in the slow cooker, I always make a double batch using 2 lb of ground beef. So if I were to brown the beef in the slow cooker, I’d have to do it in batches anyway because otherwise it would be (very!) overcrowded and the beef would end up stewing instead.
So I just brown the beef in a large skillet then transfer to the slow cooker. Well actually, I brown the onion first then transfer that into the slow cooker, then I brown the beef. Simply because of sheer volume – I don’t have a skillet large enough!
I am very particular about recipes I make in a slow cooker. I strongly believe that things should only be made in a slow cooker if it either enhances the recipe or the sheer convenience far outweighs a small compromise in the food.
As for Spaghetti Bolognese? It absolutely enhances it. Slow cookers on low cook maintain an even temperature lower than most stoves can manage. I truly believe to my very core that Bolognese Sauce made in the slow cooker is better.
This recipe makes a double batch but you could even triple it if you want! Because not only is Bolognese made for making in a slow cooker, it’s also made for freezing!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 yellow onions diced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 cup red wine or chicken or beef broth
- 2 (28 ounce each) can crushed tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 beef bouillon cubes crushed
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Pasta
- 8 ounces spaghetti
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until translucent and sweet - around 7 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same skillet and increase heat to high. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned. Cook in 2 batches if your skillet is not large enough. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Return skillet to the stove, turn the stove down to medium and add red wine. Bring to simmer and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the skillet into the wine, then pour the mixture into the slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients into the slow cooker. Cook on Low for 6 hours.
Spaghetti
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the spaghetti until just before al dente (still slightly firm). Remove 1 mug of the water from the pot, then drain the pasta.
- Return the pasta to the pot and add 2 ½ - 3 cups of Bolognese Sauce, plus ½ cup of reserved pasta water. Toss gently over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, or until the Sauce has thickened and coats the spaghetti. (Note 3)
- Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Would this recipe work in the Instapot? Haven’t tried the slow cooker mode yet.
I haven’t tried it in the IP. I do make a spaghetti sauce in the IP and as long as you ensure to scrape off any brown bits, I think it would work. Let us know how it goes.
Tried this recipe recently and it was so so good! The whole family loved it.
I was hoping to make it for dinner tomorrow, however I’m starting work quite early. Is it ok to make it all up this evening and then store overnight in the fridge ready to put on tomorrow morning?
That’ll work just fine. Enjoy it!
If you make half the sauce size how much would you decrease the slow cook time? Also by half? Thank you.
I haven’t tried halving this recipe so I can’t say for sure. The time allows for the flavors to blend.
Best Bolognese I’ve ever made. It was a definite thumbs up in my house!
This isn’t spaghetti Bolognese, an Italian wouldn’t dream of using Worcestershire sauce or chilli
Tried this spag bol, I used my home grown tomatoes, mushrooms, thyme and oregano plus a carrot and it turned out fabulously!
This recipe is delicious. I am adding mushrooms this time. Do I add them in at the beginning?
Hi Kelly, I would add them towards the end. You could add them in the beginning but they will be very soft by the time you are ready to serve it!
Love the sauce make about once a month but how to get prepped in 20 minutes? It takes me about an hour
Way too heavy on the dried oregano, dried thyme and bay for my taste, but I’m used to making Bolognese with carrot and celery, parsley and basil, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Am going to add 1/2 cup of chopped parsley and may add an additional pound of meat or even some additional tomato sauce (passata) to see if I can tone down the dried spices. I used 1 teaspoon of chili flakes and like that heat level.
Based on your comment, I reduced the oregano to 2 tsp and still found it very oregano forward. Otherwise a great recipe, but I’ll adjust the spices accordingly next time.
I don’t have beef bullion cubes, is there anything I can replace that with?
Hi Chloe, you could leave them out or try replacing it with beef stock. Let us know how it turns out!
Can I use a Shiraz?
It should work just fine in this recipe.
we are in the process of renovating our kitchen and I don’t have access to a stovetop , is it possible just to put all ingredients in the slow cooker?
We haven’t tried it directly in the slow cooker but it should work. It may require a little longer to cook fully though.
Can you use this bolognese sauce for lasagna ?
Sure you can!
We LOVED this sauce. It’s been a while since I’ve made it so I can’t remember how much we got out of it. It would be enough for to make a lasagna with, right? My hubby wants to try it that way
Depending on how big your lasagna is it should work well for that Dani.
Followed this recipe to a tee…with the exception to the garlic. I doubled the garlic because, well, I love garlic! This was the best recipe I’ve ever made that didn’t come from Mom! Thank you!
I made it today for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. Everyone in my family repeated a plate…
This sauce is absolute perfection. I personally leave out the sugar, and it’s not needed, in my opinion. The first time I made it, I didn’t have a dry red wine, so I did 1/3 c each of port, chardonnay and beef broth, and it turned out wonderfully, so don’t be afraid to get creative with it. This is incredible in a lasagna also.
Amazing! Going to make this a regular dinner for me and mum
When I read over the ingredients of this Bolognese recipe, I was a bit leery. No carrot? No pork? No milk? No cinnamon? Well I made this tonight and it is not an authentic Bolognese sauce. I agree with another review, this is just a meat sauce. I was disappointed and will not make this again.
Hi I was wondering if I could use a 6.5L slow cooker to make the sauce? Because that’s all I have.
Thanks
It should work just fine Andrea.
Hi ! When you transfer the meat to the slow cooker, do you drain the fat or transfer that into slow cooker too?
Thanks!
Hi Natalie, when making this recipe the meat we used didn’t have a lot of fat so we didn’t bother but if you find yours does you can definitely drain it before transferring it over.
Is it a big deal if I slow cook for 5 hours instead of 6?? I used around 1.7 lbs of ground beef…
I think it should work just fine.
This recipe looks perfectly fine. However, it’s just standard spaghetti meat sauce. This is not a Bolognese. True Bolognese sauce has pork, cream, and carrot in it.
You could definitely add pork and carrot to the slow cooker. That’d be delicious! You could try replacing all or part of the pasta water with cream as well Nunya!